Internal-combustion engine.



V. E. McMULLEN & W. E. WOODRUFF.

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION Fl LED APR. 29. I916.

Patented June 4, 1918.

' the condensed oil tends to accumulate in the UNI E S BEIGE.

VINCENT E. MolVIUIiLEN AND WAYLANID E. WO'ODRUFF, OF EVANSVILLE, INDIANA, 'HSSIGNORS TO THE HERCULES GAS ENGINE COMPANY, 01-3 EVANSVILLE, INDIANA,

A CORPORATION OF INDIANA.

lNTERN-AL-C'OMBUST-ION ENGINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 4, 191 8.

Application filed April 29, 1916. Serial No. 94,345.

tion Engines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,

forming part of this specification.

The object of the invention is'to prov de a construction of internal combustion en gines in which kerosene or a heavier grade' of oil than gasolene maybe conveniently and readily used as a fuel. v One great difiiculty in the use of kerosene is that the oil which is taken up and vapor-Q ized in the mixing chamber'by the incoming current of an condenses very much 'more rapidly than gasolene vapor and therefore pipes and the mixer, and thus the mixture becomes unduly enriched and clogs the en- .gine.'

provide a construction in which the liability of condensation of the kerosene fuel shall :be reduced to a minimum and in which any condensation that there is may be caused to flow intothe engine cylinder where it can escape through the exhaust without affecting the, explosive mixture. In the construction of our invention, we therefore provide for the location of the mixing chamber and the inlet .port to the cylinder so designed that the'passageway to the cylinder shall be exceedingly short and so that any condensatmn may by gravity flow into the cylinder.

.Heretofore it has been customary 1n sta tionary engines of the type under consideration to regulate the speed of the engine by governor control over the ignition, and we propose as a novel feature in this connection to furnish a throttle valve for the intake and subject this throttle valve to governor control, so that the vaporized fuel may be regulated in quantity for the varying engine speeds, and the ob ect1 0n due to condensation may be avoided which exists where the supply of fuel is not regulated by any throttle valve and the speed controlled by the ignition.

We also propose It 1s the specialobject of our invention to the engine shaft.

to pump the liquid fuel to the mixing chamber by an automatically actlng plunger pump which for convenience 1n operation is mounted and arranged d1- :rectly on or within the mixer chamber cas- The various features of novelty in the construction and operation above referred to will be hereinafter particularly described and pointed out in the claims In the drawing,

Figure 1 is an end elevation of the engine cylinder and the mixer, with the mixer partly in section.

2 is a side eletation oft'he same. I I I Fig. '3 1s a plan view of the mixing chain ber.

Fig. 4 is a detail showing the fuel inlet and throttle valve. I

Fig. 5 is a side elevation, partly in section, of the mixing chamber showing the gasolene primer construction. I

Suitably bolted to the engine cylinder 1 is a reservoir or receptacle '2 for the kerosene fuel which, when suitably mixed with the an for vaporization, is carried through the inlet port indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1, as will be hereinafter described. This inlet port, as indicated in Fig. 1, is on a slight incline so that any condensed fuel will by gravity'j'flow down into the engine, into the cylinder, rather-than accumulate in the mixer and its various passages. The mixer provides a receptacle 4: for the kerosene which is pumped thereto from a suitable supply by a pipe connected with the intake passageway 5 at the base of the mixing chamber. This oil pump comprises a cylindrical casing 6, witha vertically acting plunger 7, which is hollow at'its lower on and provided with a port and check valve 8" from which the oil passes through the opening 9 in the pump cylinder wallinto the receptacle. The plunger 7 is depressed by the :horizontal arm of the bellcrank lever 10, which lever is pivoted "at 11 on a lug on the casing, the bell crank lever having a de pending arm 12 which is reciprocated by a pin or stud 13 on the actuating rod 14, which rod is connected in any suitable way with the crank shaft of the engine so :as to be moved back and forthwith the rotation of The stud 1 3 striking the arm 12, depresses the horizontal arm 10, pushing down the plunger 7 against the coiled spring 15, which is mounted in the I pump cylinder and bears upon the plunger and raises the plunger after each down stroke. The inlet portfrom the oil supply is closed by the ball valve 16, and the play of the pump plunger pumps the oil as de scribed into the oil receptacle. The oil is retained at a constant height by providing an overflow pipe 17, which has its opening near the top of the receptacle and maintains the oil at a constant level, allowing the surplus to flow back through the pipe 18 to the fuel sup ly tank.

e quantity of the fuel fed to the engine cylinder is controlled by the needle valve 19, adjusted by the thumb nut 20, the

needle valve seating at the end of a small tube 22 which extends from the oil receptacle and projects a considerable distance into the intake passage 23 through which the mixture is carried into the engine cylinder.

The air for vaporizing the fuel enters through the bottom of the casing and has free passage into the intake passage 23 around the oil supply tube 22, andthe use of the tube 22 projecting into the intake passage 23 for the delivery of the oil is of very great importance as it supplies the fuel at a point where, should there be any condensation after vaporization, the surplus will run down into the engine cylinder and not accumulate in the intake passage.

For the purpose of regulating the supply of fuel to the engine, we provide the butterfly throttle valve 24 which is mounted on the small rock shaft 25 across the intake passage. This shaft 25 outside the casing has the crank arm-26 connected by the connecting bar 27 to the short arm 28 of the bell crank lever 29, pivoted at 30 to the upper end of a plate '31 extendingupwardly handle of the bell crank lever 29 and turnv ing the lever on the pivot 30, the position of the throttle valve will be varied; and as the handle 29 is turned to the right as shown in Fig. 1, it will take greater travel for the rock lever 32, actuated by the governor, to close and open the throttle valve, and thus the speed of the engine will be increased or diminished by the amount of this throw. -As the rock lever 32 under 7 the governor control only vibrates slightly,

the handle 29 can be adjusted without stop- This rock lever 32 is this purpose we drill a hole 35 in the base of the oil receptacle, and this opening has a passageway 36 into the overflow pipe 18. The opening 35 is controlled by the needle valve 37, the stem of which is threaded in the lug 38. By opening the valve 37 the receptacle can be drained at once of the oil and then the valve closed and the receptacle filled or partly filled with gasolene. Then this gasolene will be vaporized for the initial strokes of the engine and at the same time the oil pump can be set at work so as to fill the oil receptacle with the kerosene. lior filling the receptacle'with gasolene and for access to the oil receptacle for clean-' ing, we provide the cover, 39, held in place by the screw 10.

We are thus, with a very simple and'compact construction, enabled to arrange the engine for use of kerosene as a fuel. The location of the oil pump within the casing that forms the reservoir for liquid fuel gives a simple and compact construction; with easy connection with some moving part of the engine, so that the pump can be readily operated, while the fuel supply tube delivering the oil into the middle of the short intake passage insures the flow of any" oil not vaporized by the inflow of air around ployment of the 'throttle valve automativolume of air suction and thus the amount of oil delivered'through the supply tube,

thus minimizing the danger of too rich a mixture of oil, vapor and air, while the location of the intake passage directly on the engine cylinder with the flow therefrom into the cylinder insures a freedom from accumulation of the oil and thus any liability of choking the engine. Thea'djustable connection of the throttle valve stem "with the rock lever actuated by the governor, whereby, with the shifting of a simple lever, the distance between the connecting points of the throttle valve stem and the governor rock lever may be varied, gives aconstruction which permits of speed'control'without stopping of engine or governor.

We do not wish to be limited in the claims that follow to the exact structure described in the foregoing specification, as the description refers but to the preferred form of our invention; on the contrarywe wish to be entitled to the full scope of the doc trine of equivalents in the construction of our claims. Also we do not wish to be limited in our claims because of our failure at this time to appreciate the full useful- 1O 0 the pipe into the engine cylinder. The em-* ness of the invention, as we intend it to be used in the future in any manner that may turn out to be economical and convenient, and that mere mechanical changes necessary to adapt it to future uses be fully included in the scope of our invention.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a device of the character specified, a reservoir for the liquid fuel, an inlet passageway for the mixture from the reservoir to the engine cylinder, a throttle valve in said passageway, and governor connection for said valve to subject same to automatic governor control, comprising rock shafts and crank arms for the throttle valve and governor connection respectively, with means for adjusting the angle of the crank arms to each other whereby the throw of the governor rock shaft will be varied without stopping the engine.

2. In a device of the character specified, a reservoir for the liquid fuel, an inlet passageway for the mixture from the reservoir to the engine cylinder, a throttle valve in said passageway, and governor connection for said valve to subject same to automatic governor control, comprising rock shafts and crank arms for the throttle valve and governor connection respectively, with a bell crank lever pivotally mounted on the governor rock shaft arm, and an intermediate bar connecting the bell crank lever to the throttle valve crank, with means for adjusting the throw of the bell crank lever, whereby the throw of the governor rock shaft may be adjusted without stopping the engine.

3. In a device of the character specified, a reservoir for the liquid fuel, an inlet passageway for the mixture from the reservoir to the engine cylinder, a throttle valve in said passageway, and governor connection for said valve to subject same to automatic governor control, comprising rock shafts and crank arms for the throttle valve and governor connection respectively, an upwardly projecting plate on the crank arm of the governor rock shaft, a bell crank lever pivotally mounted on said upwardly projecting plate, an intermediate bar connecting one arm of said bell crank lever to the throttle valve crank arm, with the other arm of said bell crank lever serving as a handle to vary the position of the bell crank lever and the throw of the governor rock shaft as specified without stopping the engine, and means for locking the bell crank in adjusted position.

4. In a device of the character described, a reservoir for liquid fuel, a pump therefor mounted in the reservoir casing, an over flow outlet pipe from said reservoir to maintain the fuel at a constant level, a discharge outlet in the bottom of said reservoir, with connection therefor to the outlet pipe, and w a manually operated valve to control said] discharge outlet whereby the fuel reservoir may be used for diflerent classes of fuel, as specified.

VINCENT E. MGMULLEN. \VAYLAND E. WOODRUFF.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, .D. G. 

